


Primeval 100 Drabbles: 251 - 300

by Annariel



Series: Primeval 100 Drabbles [6]
Category: Primeval, Primeval: New World
Genre: Community: primeval100, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-27
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-10-31 20:10:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 50
Words: 5,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/347908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annariel/pseuds/Annariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mixture of drabbles for prompts drawing from all of the Primeval series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sticks and Stones

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to collect together the first drabbles for the sixth 50 Primeval 100 prompts as I write them. Therefore it is a work in progress since these only get done as prompts get posted. One of the reasons I've put "Choose not to Warn" and not listed characters and pairings is that this may well vary as more get added and the characters and pairings would probably quickly tend towards "all". Since I can add specific warning as well as "Choose not to Warn" I will add specific warnings as they crop up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 251

The anomaly led to a vast desert. Wooden posts marched across the sands in every direction. In the light wind, the chimes hanging from the myriad posts rang out in quiet harmonies.

Abby stared at the vast landscape. "What is this place?"

"Dunno." Connor tapped one of the chimes. It dinked forlornly. Then he giggled. "Maybe they didn't like words."

"What?"

"Stick," Connor kicked the post. "Sands," he waved his arms to encompass the desert. "Tones!" He doubled-up with the giggles.

"Right! That's it! We're going back to the Cretaceous."

Abby pushed him, still laughing helplessly, back through the anomaly.


	2. Cliffhanger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 252
> 
> Because, obviously, Danny is a superhero in disguise.

Well this was an interesting and potentially awkward position to be in. Danny peered up between his hands at the top of the cliff. He could hear a lot of shouting and guns firing but, just right now, no one seemed to have noticed his tumble.

He whistled softly to himself. He would be inconspicuous and wait for rescue. The noise reduced, clearly the conflict was moving away from him.

This, Danny decided, was getting distinctly boring.

He peered up at the clifftop again and weighed the de-merits of boredom against the risk of exposure.

Then, with one giant leap...


	3. Best Night Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 253

Connor had brought fish and chips home with him: a peace offering for the lateness of the hour.

They sat side by side on Jess's sofa watching telly and picking the fat, soggy chips from the greaseproof paper. Abby licked her fingers and nestled her head into the crook of Connor's neck.

She woke up curled against him and realised she had slipped easily into sleep, with no thought of watches or predators or the dangers of the night.

Connor's hands ghosted across her face.

"What is it?" he asked feeling the tears.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," she whispered back.


	4. Pteranodon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 254

The pteranodon squawked feebly and its wings, what were left of them, flapped on the ground.

Matt knelt beside it, out of range of the beak. Abby saw his lips purse as his hands carefully felt along its bones. When he looked up his expression was bleak. 

"Do you want to check?" he asked.

Abby shook her head. She'd seen enough to know the creature would never fly again.

"Becker, you have gun." Matt said.

"I'm not going to..."

Matt interrupted him harshly. "Just give me the gun, I'll do it."

Abby walked away, but she still heard the shot.


	5. Pride and Prejudice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 255

"Jess says that we are a great classic romance."

Lester narrowed his eyes at Danny's boots on the pale cream cushions of his sofa. "How did she come to that conclusion?" 

"You're all posh and pernickety. I'm common and carefree."

"That makes us a great romance?"

"Obviously the initial suspicion, growing respect, tragic separation and long-awaited reunion make us a great romance, the other stuff means we are a great _classic_ romance."

Lester snorted.

"She's right though. I could write a book; call it `Grumpy and Gorgeous'"

Lester closed his eyes and wondered which of them Danny thought was which.


	6. Good Things Come to those who Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 256

Jess's mother was full of proverbs. "Sticks and stones...," she had started when Jess was bullied at school. Mr. Parker snorted and complained to the head.

"Absence makes the heart go fonder," when Jess's boyfriend left for university. Mr. Parker said nothing, but he'd always disliked the lad.

"Good things come to those who wait," she said during their weekly phone call, as Jess complained obliquely about Becker.

Jess blinked, switched off the phone and marched across the canteen.

"Captain Becker!"

Becker froze, a fork full of spaghetti halfway to his mouth.

"Do you want to go out with me?"


	7. April Leonard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 257

The hospital window was open. Crisp fresh air drifted into the room, carrying the faint echo of birdsong. Robert Leonard gripped the sill. He'd had a nasty fright.

"It was routine. I don't know why you're worked up," Mary murmured sleepily, cradling the baby.

 _Easy for her to say_ , he reflected uncharitably. She'd been concentrating on other things at the time.

"You gave us all a bit of a surprise, coming so fast," the nurse coo'd over the child. "What are you calling her?" she asked.

"April, 'cos of when she's born," said Mary.

_Still, all's well that ends well._


	8. Rex!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 258

"Rex! Rex!" Abby leaned anxiously out of the window as Rex turned loop-the-loops up above her.

"Let him fly," advised Connor. "It's not like he's a secret any more, and God alone knows it's hot enough."

The heat wave was oppressive. Connor was only wearing jeans, but sweat still glistened on his neck and chest.

"What if he doesn't come back?" asked Abby.

"He'll come back," returned Connor with confidence.

Outside Rex did a final loop and then swooped back down into Abby's arms.

"How did you know?" she asked.

Connor pecked her on the cheek. "Because he loves you."


	9. No Pain, No Gain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 259

At the time Helen half-fancied the fire was the final conflagration ending the Cretaceous. She ran, surrounded by a forest full of ancient creatures, desperate to keep ahead of the heat and smoke.

Scarcity of food had stripped pounds from her body and hard living had toned the muscles that were left. Her first kill, wringing the neck of an Eothyris, was still fresh in her mind.

Helen imagined the fire burned all the softness away, not just the feeble muscles and the inefficient cardiorespiratory system, but the foolish fancies, sentimental emotions and residual squeamishness.

Still, no pain, no gain.


	10. Shoot to Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 260

"How cruel!" Abby said. 

Emily paused the tale of her first pheasant shoot. She'd never been particularly sentimental. Her father would have taken the cane to her if she had flinched when lining up the gun, but that was not why her hands had been steady. 

Her shot wounded but did not kill the bird and she _had_ shuddered as the dog carried the feebly twitching animal to them. Then her father had shown her how to wring its neck and she had been reassured.

Abby might have understood that final twist, but she would never understand shooting to kill.


	11. Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 261

At first his devotions were just form, keeping the brothers happy while he waited: for the anomaly to re-open; for a way off this god-forsaken rock; for anything really.

The belief around him was heavy with echoes childhood: "Forgive me father, for I have sinned." He barely noticed when form turned to request: bring my brother to me; get me out of here; please God, let the harvest be good.

Eventually toil and peace and devotion stripped away everything extraneous. He simply worshipped. When, finally, the anomaly opened, Patrick fell to his knees, gave praise and waited until it closed.


	12. Intensive Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 262

Violet Page sat by her daughter's bedside listening to the hiss of the ventilator and the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor.

She caught her husband, Steve's, eye and read his resolution and agreement. Then she nodded at the doctor who was waiting for their final signal.

The ventilator fell silent. Violet listened as the beeps of the heart monitor faltered then became an insistent siren, hastily cancelled by a nurse.

She was dimly aware of the medical professionals murmuring, of things being checked and noted. Someone spoke to Steve.

Violet sat holding Sarah's hand as it gradually grew cold.


	13. Domestic God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 263

Jenny glanced surreptiously at her watch. She had eaten before she set out, Nick's reputation preceded him, but that had been a while ago.

"More wine?" asked Stephen.

"At this rate I'll be unconscious before the starter arrives." 

"Any minute now. He's just stuffing the mushrooms."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "This had better be worth it."

"It will be," said Lester. "There are few chefs I will tolerate serving a meal six hours late at 1am in the morning. Nick is one of them."

Jenny glanced at her watch again. It was only 11pm. Perhaps she should consider herself lucky.


	14. Don't Leave Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 264

"The good thing about Sarah," Lester had said more than once, "is that there's no beating about the bush. I never have to second guess what she wants."

"Well?" Sarah asked as she stood in the hallway, her suitcases around her feet. She didn't look happy but then, Lester supposed, leaving was probably no easier than being left.

What was the point of saying anything, asking anything? She made her intention perfectly plain. Grovelling would be both childish and embarrassing.

Lester bit back the pleas and decided to behave like a civilised adult. 

"Can I give you a lift somewhere?"


	15. Is it meant to look like that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 265
> 
>  
> 
> I think I can claim credit for about half a dozen words of what follows and the cunning substitution of the word Scutosaurus for Armadillo. Flanders and Swann's original has, needless to say, been butchered mercilessly.

_Somewhere on Salisbury Plain_

'Oh, my darling Scutosaurus,  
Let me tell you of my love,  
Listen to my Scutosaurus roundelay;  
All our lives now lie before us,  
Underneath this sparkling torus,  
Be my darling Scutosaurus all the day.'

When I saw them in a hollow, by a yellow muddy bank -  
A Scutosaurus singing... to an armour-plated tank.  
Should I tell him, gaunt and rusting, with anomaly above,  
This - abandoned on manoeuvres - is the object of your love?

I left him to his singing,  
Cycled home without a pause,  
Never tell a man the truth  
About the one that he adores.


	16. To the Ends of the Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 266

Jess watched the figure struggling its way up the cliff path and found she wasn't surprised when it resolved itself into the form of Becker.

He was breathing heavily by the time he reached her.

"You know, hundreds of years ago, before they found the Americas, this was literally the end of the Earth." Jess waved out over the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. A salt breeze whipped hair into her face.

Becker plumped down beside her. They sat together in silence a while. 

Eventually Becker fished something out of his pocket. "I brought chocolate," he said. "No orange."


	17. Football

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 267

The anomaly was just below the second floor window of Barclays Bank, angry crowd below that.

"The ball went right through," explained a large man.

"Who are you?" asked Ryan.

"Landlord of the Boot Inn. Free drinks for her Majesty's forces if we win!" The landlord winked.

Ryan kept his features carefully blank.

Two hours later Finn exited the anomaly, bearing the ball. Thirty seconds later the clock struck five and victory was secured.

"Did it really take Finn ninety minutes to find the ball?" asked Claudia, sipping her complimentary pint.

"I didn't ask and he didn't tell," said Ryan.


	18. The Way to a (Wo)man's Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 268

"See, the way to a woman's heart..." began Captain Prince.

Helen closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She was three days into this ridiculous "reconnaissance" of Burton's. The jumped up security team he had foisted on her reminded her exactly why she preferred raptors to humans.

"Helen, you're a woman," said Prince in a tone which suggested he'd only just noticed. "What do you think?"

Helen grinned and leaned over him. "I don't know about a woman's heart, but I've found the best way to a man's heart is up and under the rib cage with a good long knife."


	19. The Armoury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 269

Jenny sat down at her dressing table. She had three interviews lined up today. In her mind this was the new start. She viewed the table with fresh eyes for the first time in months. It was littered with abandoned make-up. There was a bright red lipstick she didn't even remember owning, eye-liner, nail varnish, hair-spray. An untidy pile of pins and clips spilled out of a small pot and across the walnut veneer. 

She brushed her hair slowly and wondered whether to put the armour back on, or continue without it as she had the last few frantic weeks.


	20. Philip Burton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 270

Philip gritted his teeth while the motley collection of inadequates and obsessives - his "project partners" he reminded himself - tried to spin their lack of progress as some kind of success. He had had such hopes for this project but it had become bogged down in double-checking trivial results; timid experimental design; shoddy workmanship; irrelevant side issues; and people using the money to pursue their own research agenda. Phillip wasn't sure anything could be salvaged from the wreckage.

This was the last time, he told himself, he was going to allow `partners' any real control over a research project.


	21. Worst Day Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 271 (and 333 Past Challenges)

"We're only doing this to simplify tax," Lester muttered as Jess fluttered around in excitement. 

Jess snorted. By midday she had picked herself a bridesmaid dress.

* * *

"It was supposed to be a small wedding," he pleaded when asked to choose between a dozen different table decorations.

Becker patted his back sympathetically, while Lyle wound Jess up demanding increasingly vile colour schemes. Lyle was being no help at all keeping things under control.

* * *

"You're smiling," Lyle whispered as they left the Registry Office amid showers of glittering confetti unicorns.

"Worst. Day. Ever," Lester muttered, but he nevertheless allowed a small smile.


	22. Keeping Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 272

Matt Anderson has been keeping secrets his whole life. 

Suspicion is a way of life when resources are scarce. A quest for knowledge is dangerous in a world destroyed by men of science.

The corridors of the ARC are the same and yet different from the corridors of any underground bunker. Matt can feel the secrets, official and otherwise, in locked laboratories and whispered conversations.

And yet... 

Jess bounces up completely transparent and open. Each time the team let him into their thoughts, hopes and fears, something strains in his heart. 

The habits of a life-time are about to shatter.


	23. Lockdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 273

Years after the disastrous lockdown Connor had a revelation.

He was busy documenting an interface and tweaking a simulation environment readyfor passing to the integration team in the morning. The sudden moment of clarity caused him to lift hands from keyboard and sit upright and still.

It surprised him to learn, after all this time, that he still retained some faith in Burton. Faith now lost.

There had been no documentation. There had been no simulation based test rig. Philip had just told him to hook up the code and run it.

It wasn't even flawed genius, but criminal negligence.


	24. Running Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 274

For want of, as it transpired, a train crew at Reading, James Lester missed his meeting with the Minister. By the time it was rescheduled budget allocations had calcified and his wriggle room reduced. Sharks within the Home Office and the MoD smelled blood and began to circle.

The resulting short-staffing of the security teams meant that, more often than not, the back-up were late appearing in the field. Tempers became frayed. Decision making was compromised. People died.

Even so, Lester felt a frisson of fear when, as they left their first meeting, Burton whispered.

"I have plenty of nails."


	25. Faster, Stronger, Higher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 275

"They're faster than us; stronger than us; they can jump higher than we can." Patrick kept up the low grade muttering in Danny's ear. Danny wondered if he actually wanted the predator to kill them, just to score a point. Danny pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He had no time for it now.

The predator's foot caught the wire strung across the corridor. There was an explosion of noise. Tin cans clattered together. Rocks fell. Danny stepped smartly out of hiding and put a single precious bullet in the predator's brain.

"But we're smarter," he said.


	26. Unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 276

Danny Quinn liked to do the unexpected. Most people's thoughts ran along accustomed grooves. Danny shook things up a bit.

Captain Becker was proving something of a challenge. When Danny broke into the ARC, repeatedly, Becker labelled it a security exercise. This was not, Danny felt, thinking outside the box.

Several practical jokes and maverick escapades followed. Becker remained unmoved, impeccable and rigidly coiffured. 

Then one morning, apropos of nothing, halfway between the offer of a cup of tea and an observation about Jennifer Lewis' arse, Becker leaned over and kissed Danny firmly.

Which, Danny had to admit, was unexpected.


	27. Collateral Damage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 277 (and 333 Past Challenges)

Ange Finch looked desperately tired as she sat in the chair across from Leeds' desk.

"You should go home," he said.

She shook her head. "Dylan may come round. Evan's upset again and she seems to think..." Ange waved a hand vaguely to encompass Dylan's opinions. "I'm don't want to deal right now."

Ken ventured a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry about Mac. I hoped we might get him back."

"We all did. Collateral damage," Ange said bitterly.

Ken winced. "It's not a term we normally use to friends and relatives."

Ange rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Still, that's what he was."


	28. Hell Creek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 278 (Picture Prompt)

Mrs Baumgartner had been watching them for an hour, shotgun resting across the front of her saddle. As he worked on exposing a Hadrosaur bone, Nick was "ignoring" her with a long and loud monologue on evolution.

Stephen stood up to stretch and, reflexively (angry people with shotguns made him nervous), checked the GPS. They were still on Federal land and she was still on hers, guarding the border against archeological incursion.

Then an anomaly opened behind her.

"Oh shit!" he said.

Cutter looked up. "Looks like the dinosaurs didn't get that memo about no evolution nonsense on my land."


	29. Winning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 279

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when you allow a dozen denialists to play the Primeval RPG.
> 
> Credits: Danny (telperion_15),  
> Lester (kerry_louise),  
> Ryan (fredbassett),  
> Whelan (those who were there know to whom I refer)

In chaos of the moment Danny hefted his frying pan and then swiped the deinonychus. It gave a startled shriek as it hurled straight through the anomaly.

Danny grinned and punched the air. "I win!"

"I don't believe it is a competition, Mr. Quinn," remarked Lester, emerging from the back of the cave, a rag tag collection of Special Forces soldiers in tow. 

"Besides, it was decided earlier that Whelan had won," Ryan pointed out.

There was a quiet murmur of agreement. Private Whelan smirked and sketched a salute that was almost insolent.

"Bloody gamesmasters," Danny muttered under his breath.


	30. Love at First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 280

Love at first sight.

Jess had never believed in it but, of course, she had read his files. She'd read his reports. She'd puzzled over his resignation, worrying at his reasons; such tenacity followed by such sudden defeat.

His bearing, when he walked into the ARC, was erect but not stiff, the parade ground softened by doubt and regret. He looked lithe and strong. As he strode across the room, his head turned briefly, his eye catching hers.

Jess felt sudden warmth in her cheeks. She looked away and watched his progress from the safe remove of the surveillance cameras.


	31. This Means War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 281

Captain Becker and Matt Anderson were both staring fixedly at a point somewhere above Lester's head. 

"...Mr. Anderson said he'd rather have neural surgery while conscious than watch another game of cricket so Captain Becker said..."

By Lester's reckoning Mrs. Wells hadn't drawn breath in three minutes. He wondered if he could enter her into the Guinness Book of Records.

"...and the entire plate of scones were completely ruined!"

Mrs. Wells' scones were infamous for all the wrong reasons. Lester looked at his cream and jam covered subordinates and wondered whether to issue them with a warning or a commendation.


	32. I Have a Bad Feeling about this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 282

"Still no anomaly signal," Connor muttered in Abby's ear.

"You did say the rock would shield it."

Abby kept her torch moving as they descended deeper into the tunnel system. It bounced of rocks, and the damp clay floor, picking out the blood trail they were following.

Then they rounded a bend and stopped dead at the carnage before them.

Abby looked at the dead bodies, the egg-like things, the maggot-like things, and the tunnels.

"I have..." she began.

Connor clapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't say it!" he hissed in her ear. "Whatever you do! Don't say it!"


	33. For Sale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 283

"Oh, one last thing!" Philip Burton turned in the doorway.

Christine had been wondering about the point of this little meeting. "Yes?" 

"I heard rumours of an interesting project running out of the Home Office. I gather you have an interest."

Christine raised an eyebrow and hoped he'd reveal what he knew and from whom.

"I'm always interested in funding scientific research. Call me if you think we can work together."

"Not for sale Mr. Burton." Christine hated interfering businessmen almost more than obstructive civil servants and their little friends.

He shrugged. "Your loss." The words sounded like a threat.


	34. Future Predator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 284

Aris crouched on the edge of the canyon. The entrances to the city of Iridion scattered across the sheer surface on the far side. Dark entrance after dark entrance sounded as hollow echoes in his mind. Each opening led deep into the complex beyond; to many splendoured dwellings and workshops and towering caverns full of sound and beauty.

Aris chittered and turned his back on home. The hunger and the rage were upon him. For now he would hunt and feed, breed and scrabble in the wastelands. All things were fated to pass, and the rage was just another such.


	35. Frustrated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 285

"Were the thugs in masks and the black van entirely necessary?" Captain Becker attempted to look severe and disapproving, not an easy task when tied to chair.

"Did you come over last weekend?"

"I explained! My parents paid a surpise visit!"

"Did you have lunch with me on Tuesday?"

"Lester wanted..."

"Did you come for a drink on Thursday?"

"Jess, I..."

"I bent over, in front of you, in a mini-skirt and red knickers on Friday!"

"We were in full view of half the ARC!"

"Captain Hilary Becker," said Jess as she straddled him. " _I_ am a very frustrated woman."


	36. Fossils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 286

Sunday afternoon, without fail, young Connor Temple was marched up the road to Tea with Granny. 

Granny Temple served PG Tips and Ribena, lemon drizzle and ginger cake, in the front room that smelled faintly of cigarettes and furniture polish. 

Then Connor was allowed to take his grandfather's collection of ammonites down from a locked glass-fronted cabinet where they jostled with china shepherdesses and coloured glassware. He sat with them on the rug consulting a dinosaur book Granny had found in a jumble sale.

When chased by prehistoric creatures, he could always smell stale smoke, blackcurrant, polish, lemon and ginger.


	37. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 287

Lester walked down endless corridors, checking offices which hadn't been used by ARC personel in years. Offices abandoned by the new occupants, leaving only the odd broken chair and peeling carpet tile. The walls told where ducting for cables had come and gone.

The bulldozers would arrive in the morning.

Connor was leaning casually against the concrete wall of the sweeping underground entrance.

"All done?" Connor asked.

"Almost."

Lester hit the button next to the big metal door. It lowered with much grinding and creaking of worn machinery. It finally shut with a hollow echoing clang.

The rest was silence.


	38. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 288

In the darkest moments, when the black dog grumbled in the shadows of his empty apartment, Becker imagined them like fireworks. 

Cutter flared across his path, throwing out ideas and demands like sparks of light that whizzed and popped. Sarah was brilliant and beautiful, lighting up his life in a blaze of glorious technicolour.

The others were the fragile flames of a dying fire, almost vanished, but with a little effort they would spring back into life. That's what he tried to tell himself.

But then he opened his eyes to the darkness and the black dog in the shadows.


	39. Headlights on a Dark Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 289

The trees and bushes were familiar. He must be in a modern era. As he trudged through the dark wood, he wondered idly if there were any humans yet.

A low roaring sound made him stop. Crouching in the shelter of a bush he saw lights moving between the trees. Suddenly they resolved into two bright spots that swept around in a graceful circle.

He stepped out as the car passed, feet hitting tarmac, and stared after it. Then he continued on. There was an anomaly waiting up ahead.

But Danny found it harder than usual to step through it.


	40. Rain (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 290 (Rain) - Sequel to Rain and Blessing. Ryan is a Ghost.

It was raining again.

Today Connor deliberately turned his feet and walked to Ryan's place. Ryan was seated on the wide stone steps before the door.

"You've not been around the flat much lately," Connor said.

Ryan smiled sadly. "You've not needed me there."

"I still miss you."

Ryan stood. "Moving on doesn't mean you have to forget."

Connor blinked back the danger of tears. "I guess I just came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye." Ryan leaned in. Connor closed his eyes. The ghost of a kiss was the faintest touch against his lips. Then he was alone in the rain.


	41. Telephone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 291

Becker was late.

To be precise, Becker was 24 hours and 35 minutes late. Jess had expected to meet him off the 5.25 from Paddington on Wednesday and he hadn't been there.

There had been no texts. In fact there had been nothing since she had spoken to him by Skype on Sunday evening. He had looked tired and dusty over the dodgy link to Afghanistan. But he had confirmed plans for his upcoming leave.

Obviously there were all sorts of perfectly benign reasons why he had been delayed and hadn't got in touch.

That was when the telephone rang.


	42. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 292

Becker appeared, soaking wet and unannounced, in the middle of a thunderstorm.

32 hours earlier, when Jess had planned this reunion, it had involved candles, champagne and new underwear. Now it involved fleece blankets, a gallon of tea and a long explanation covering delayed flights, lost credit cards, and flat mobile phone batteries, followed by an even longer diatribe about "so-called" pay phones at Frankfurt airport.

Outside the weather was foul but inside everything was warm and snug.

Becker's head drooped in sleep, onto her shoulder. Her pink "funky pig" mug was still clutched in his hands. 

Best reunion ever.


	43. Christmas Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 293, Picture Prompt

"I'm pretty relaxed about Christmas," Jenny had said and Michael had believed her.

She had also said that about the wedding. He really should have known better.

He was touring and only home at weekends. She seemed a little strained but brushed it off as over-work.

The two Christmas trees came as a bit of a shock; as did the models, the candy baskets and the rustic throws. Jenny didn't normally do rustic.

It was Easter before he found the five notebooks, idea board and Excel spreadsheet. Next year, Michael decided, he was taking her on a cruise to Caribbean.


	44. Christmas Carol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 294

_"It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old,"_

Becker had a good baritone. Jess glanced up to see him walking along, half reading a report.

_"From angels bending near the Earth to touch their harps of gold,"_

Carol music was being piped into the lift. 

_"Peace on the Earth, goodwill to men, From heaven's all gracious King!_

Becker looked up and saw her staring.

"What?" he asked.

Jess took a deep breath, _"The world in solemn stillness lay."_

He grinned and joined in with her soprano, _"To hear the angels sing."_

Outside, the snow began to fall.


	45. Grateful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 295

Lester kept a tally of Diictodon destruction pinned to the fridge. 

365 newspapers, 52 copies of the Radio Times, 23 pairs of socks (including all five tartan pairs Aunt Lavinia had sent last Christmas), 4 ties, 2 pairs of slippers and a pink monstrosity won in the ARC Children in Need raffle.

On New Year's Eve, Lester replaced the tally with a clean sheet, poured two glasses of champagne, and gave the Diictodons a fresh pair of slippers. 

Connor's champagne remained lonely and untouched on the counter, while the otherwise silent flat filled with the happy sound of material shredding.


	46. Leftovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 296

Danny had no idea when he was. His feet sunk in the sand as he struggled up and down the dunes. In the morning he spied a wide river flowing through the hot land, lush vegetation crowded upon its banks.

He hurried towards the water, ignoring the scattered debris of some city, lying fallen among the sand and rocks.

It was only when he came upon the shattered visage of Admiral Nelson that Danny paused. The statue lay on its side, half covered by a drift of sand, his column stretched out behind.

"I am Ozymandias," Danny murmured to himself.


	47. Role Model

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 297

"Sir, Mr. Silkstone is here for work experience."

Lester looked up. Lorraine hovered in the door with uncharacteristic nervousness. Behind her stood a spotty teenager in a too-large suit, clutching a government-headed letter.

"How?" Lester asked mildly, in order to register his displeasure.

"Miss Johnson signed us up. Somehow the paperwork was overlooked in the recent crisis." Lorraine made a small apologetic gesture than nevertheless eloquently conveyed 'the ARC getting blown up and our head scientist getting shot'.

Lester closed his eyes. "Let him shadow Danny. He'll be a perfect role model."

After all, this could hardly get any worse.


	48. How to Win Friends and Influence People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 298

Lester sat down at the small table opposite the gracious form of Philip Burton.

"You could just have made an appointment you know," Lester said a little peevishly. "Winning a meeting in a charity raffle is somewhat over the top."

Burton shrugged. "Made you take notice."

"Made the Home Office notice as well. They were expecting the winner to request some vapid celebrity as their guest for the evening."

Burton waved a glass of no doubt ridiculously expensive wine. "Where would be the profit in that?"

"Well, now you've won my attention, let's see if you can inflence my opinion."


	49. Bruises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 299

"I love you."

Abby really didn't know what to think about those words. She didn't even know what she wanted to think about them. She had felt strangely bereft when Caroline whisked Connor away and whatever opportunity Abby might have had, might have been creating, abruptly vanished.

Abby took a shower, ate a ready meal, and then watched wildlife documentaries on Discovery in her pyjamas.

Late that night she stared at the bruises blossoming on her wrist where Connor had held her, where he had saved her. She wondered in quiet surprise that they could be a mark of adoration.


	50. Anomalies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 300 (Picture Prompt)

Incidentally are Primeval:New World drabbles allowed (with suitable spoiler warnings of course)? It's not clear to me from the comm description and it would be useful to know for future reference. I'm assuming this is fine since it is a crossover with original Primeval.

"Abby!" Connor was reaching for something in a dense bush. As Abby watched, he pulled out a scrap of red material. 

"It's a jacket!" Abby breathed, as Connor shook it out.

"Yeah, but whose?"

Abby looked around her. The ground was churned up with criss-crossing footprints. 

"There was a triceratops here, I think," she said, kneeling down.

They followed the tracks a short distance and then they abruptly stopped. The ground beyond was flat and undisturbed.

"An anomaly," Connor whispered.

Abby fingered the red jacket sadly. This hadn't just been any anomaly, but one that could have taken them home.


End file.
